al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 49 -- The Lote-Tree of the Boundary (Sidrat al-Muntahā)
full parallel manuscript · complete bitext
الإنسان الكامل · في سدرة المنتهى
The complete chapter on the Lote-Tree of the Boundary (Sidrat al-Muntahā), rendered as a full parallel manuscript: every segment, aligned line by line. al-Jīlī reads the Lote-Tree as the utmost rank a creature can reach in its journey to God — beyond it, “no creature has a footing,” and the self is “ground away, joined to sheer non-existence.” He weighs the literal and allegorical senses of the miʿrāj lote-tree, glosses it as faith, and maps the eight Presences of divine self-disclosure that he found established there, ascending to the knowledge of the Essence, beyond which is only the Oneness.
How to read this. Use the view switcher: Split shows Arabic and English side by side; English and Original give each alone; Annotated attaches the inline Targum data to each segment — the glossary terms and the flagged miʿrāj hadith. Digital-draft edition: two-witness collated, glossary-locked, labeled AI-assisted with editor review pending. This chapter completes the throne-complex cluster (Bāb 45-49) in manuscript form.
الباب التاسع والأربعون في سدرة المنتهى
Chapter Forty-Nine: On the Lote-Tree of the Boundary (Sidrat al-Muntahā)
اعلم أن سدرة المنتهى هي نهاية المكانة التي يبلغها المخلوق في سيره إلى الله تعالى.
Know that the Lote-Tree of the Boundary is the end of the place-rank that the creature reaches in its journey to God (exalted is He).
glossary: sidrat-al-muntaha
وما بعدها إلا المكانة المختصة بالحق تعالى وحده، وليس لمخلوق هناك قدم، ولا يمكن البلوغ إلى ما بعد سدرة المنتهى.
And beyond it is only the place-rank that belongs to the Real (exalted is He) alone; no creature has a footing there, and reaching what is beyond the Lote-Tree of the Boundary is not possible.
glossary: sidrat-al-muntaha
لأن المخلوق هناك مسحوق ممحوق ومدموس مطموس ملحق بالعدم المحض، لا وجود له فيما بعد السدرة.
Because the creature there is ground away and effaced, crushed and obliterated, joined to sheer non-existence; it has no existence in what is beyond the Lote-Tree.
وإلى ذلك الإشارة في قول جبريل عليه السلام للنبي عليه السلام: «لو تقدمت شبرا لاحترقت» ولو حرف امتناع، فالتقدم ممتنع.
And to that is the pointing in the saying of Jibrīl (peace be upon him) to the Prophet (peace be upon him): "Had I advanced a handspan, I would have been burnt" -- and "had" (law) is a particle of impossibility, so the advancing is impossible.
Miʿrāj report; flagged for grading.
وأخبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه وجد هناك شجرة سدر لها أوراق كآذان الفيلة، فينبغي الإيمان بذلك مطلقة لإخباره عن نفسه بذلك، فيحتمل أن يكون الحديث مؤولا، وهو الذي وجدناه في عروجنا.
And the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) reported that he found there a lote-tree whose leaves were like the ears of elephants. One ought to believe in that absolutely, by reason of his reporting it of himself; so it is possible that the hadith is to be interpreted [allegorically], which is what we found in our [own] ascent;
The miʿrāj lote-tree hadith (cf. Bukhārī / Muslim); flagged for grading.
ويحتمل أن يكون على ظاهره، فيكون قد وجد في مجالية المثالية ومنازله ومناظره الإلهية، شجرة سدر محسوسة لخياله، مشهودة بعين كماله، ليجتمع له الكشف المحقق صورة ومعنى هكذا في جميع ما أخبر به أنه وجد إياه في معراجه.
and it is possible that it is upon its outward [literal] sense, so that he found, in his imaginal loci of disclosure, his dwellings, and his divine vistas, a sensory lote-tree [present] to his imagination, witnessed by the eye of his perfection -- so that the verified unveiling, form and meaning, might be gathered for him; thus in all that he reported he found in his ascent.
glossary: khayal, kashf
فإنا نؤمن بما قاله مطلقة ولو وجدنا فيما أعطانا الكشف مقيدة، لأن معراجنا ليس كمعراجه.
For we believe in what he said absolutely, even if we found in what the unveiling gave us [something] restricted, because our ascent is not like his ascent.
glossary: kashf
فنأخذ من حديثه مفهوم ما أعطانا الكشف، ونؤمن أن له من وراء ذلك ما لا يبلغه علمنا والذي أعطانا الكشف في هذا الحديث.
So we take from his hadith the understanding of what the unveiling gave us, and we believe that he has, beyond that, what our knowledge does not reach. And what the unveiling gave us in this hadith
هو أن المراد بشجرة السدر: الإيمان. قال: «من ملأ جوفه نبقة ملأ الله قلبه إيمانا».
is that what is intended by the lote-tree is faith (al-īmān). He said: "Whoever fills his belly with the nabq [lote-fruit], God fills his heart with faith."
Faith-hadith; flagged for grading.
وكونها لها أوراق كآذان الفيلة ضرب مثل لعظم ذلك الإيمان وقوته، وتدلى كل ورقة منها في كل بيت من بيوت الجنة عبارة عن إيمان صاحب ذلك البيت.
And its having leaves like the ears of elephants is a striking of a likeness for the greatness of that faith and its strength; and the hanging-down of each of its leaves into each of the houses of the Garden is an expression for the faith of the owner of that house.
واعلم بأنا وجدنا السدرة مقامة فيه ثماني حضرات في كل حضرة من المناظر العلا ما لا يمكن حصرها، تتفاوت تلك المناظر على حسب أذواق أهل تلك الحضرات.
And know that we found the Lote-Tree established with eight Presences (ḥaḍarāt) in it, in each Presence of the high vistas what cannot be enumerated; those vistas vary according to the tastings of the people of those Presences.
glossary: sidrat-al-muntaha, hadra, manazir
أما المقام:
As for the station (al-maqām):
glossary: maqam
فهو ظهور الحق في مظاهره، وذلك عبارة عن تجليه فيما هو له من الحقائق الحقية والمعاني الخلقية.
it is the appearing of the Real in His loci of manifestation, and that is an expression for His self-disclosure in what belongs to Him of the True realities and the created meanings.
glossary: tajalli
الحضرة الأولى:
The first Presence:
glossary: hadra
يتجلى فيها باسمه الظاهر من حيث باطن العبد.
He discloses Himself in it by His Name the Outward (al-Ẓāhir), from the standpoint of the inward of the servant.
glossary: tajalli, asma
الحضرة الثانية:
The second Presence:
يتجلى الحق فيها باسمه الباطن من حيث ظاهر العبد.
the Real discloses Himself in it by His Name the Inward (al-Bāṭin), from the standpoint of the outward of the servant.
glossary: asma
الحضرة الثالثة:
The third Presence:
يتجلى الحق فيها باسمه الله من حيث روح العبد.
the Real discloses Himself in it by His Name "Allāh," from the standpoint of the spirit of the servant.
glossary: asma
الحضرة الرابعة:
The fourth Presence:
يتجلى فيها الحق بصفة الرب من حيث نفس العبد.
the Real discloses Himself in it by the attribute of the Lord (al-Rabb), from the standpoint of the soul of the servant.
glossary: nafs
الحضرة الخامسة:
The fifth Presence:
هو تجلي المرتبة، وهو ظهور الرحمن في عقل العبد،
it is the self-disclosure of the rank, which is the appearing of the All-Merciful (al-Raḥmān) in the intellect of the servant,
glossary: tajalli
الحضرة السادسة:
The sixth Presence:
يتجلى الحق فيها من حيث وهم العبد.
the Real discloses Himself in it from the standpoint of the illusion-faculty (wahm) of the servant.
glossary: wahm
الحضرة السابعة:
The seventh Presence:
معرفة الهوية يتجلى الحق فيها من حيث نية اسم العبد.
the knowledge of the Ipseity (al-huwiyya): the Real discloses Himself in it from the standpoint of the intention of the name of the servant.
glossary: tajalli
الحضرة الثامنة:
The eighth Presence:
معرفة الذات من مطلق العبد يتجلى الحق في هذا المقام بكماله في ظاهر الهيكل الإنساني وباطنه، باطنا بباطن وظاهرة بظاهر، هوية بهوية، وإنية بإنية، وهي أعلى الحضرات وما بعدها إلا الأحدية.
the knowledge of the Essence from the absoluteness of the servant: the Real discloses Himself in this station by His perfection in the outward of the human frame and its inward -- inward by inward, outward by outward, ipseity by ipseity, I-ness by I-ness; and it is the highest of the Presences, and beyond it is only the Oneness (al-aḥadiyya).
glossary: dhat, tajalli, hadra, ahadiyya
وليس للخلق فيها مجال لأنها من محض الحق، وهي من خواص الذات الواجب الوجود.
And the creation has no field in it, because it is of the pure Real, and it is of the special properties of the Essence, the Necessary of Existence.
glossary: dhat
فإذا حصل للكامل شيء من ذلك قلنا هو تجل إلهي له به، ليس لخلقه فيه مجال فلا ينسب ذلك إلى الخلق بل هو للحق.
So when something of that is realized for the Perfect [Human], we say it is a divine self-disclosure [granted] to him by it; his creation has no field in it, so that is not attributed to the creation, but it belongs to the Real.
glossary: insan-al-kamil, tajalli
ومن هنا منع أهل الله تجلي الأحدية للخلق، وقد سبق بيان الأحدية فيما مضى، والله الموفق للصواب.
And from here the people of God have forbidden [ascribing] the self-disclosure of the Oneness to the creation; and the exposition of the Oneness has [already] preceded. And God is the granter of success to what is right.
glossary: ahadiyya, tajalli
Collation. Two-witness collated as part of the ʿArsh/Kursī/Pen/Tablet/Lote-Tree cluster (Bāb 45-49), staged 2026-06-02. No lossy drop. Completes the throne-complex cluster.
Qurʾān. No verse citations in this chapter. Two miʿrāj hadith (Jibrīl's 'had I advanced a handspan I would have been burnt'; the lote-tree with leaves like elephants' ears) and one faith-hadith ('whoever fills his belly with the nabq...') are rendered and flagged for grading.